Media Release

Aussies share what the most important factors are when purchasing a car

Most important factors when purchasing a car for by gender 

The breakdown of genders showed the top two for both women and men lined up in the same order with price and reliability. However, for men, the make of the car was more important than safety features and cost of ownership and fuel prices.  

Another notable difference between the genders was that storage, space and comfort ranked eighth for women, but for men, warranty, service plan options and exterior style and design were more important priority. Again, low emissions were notably the least important factor for men and women.  

Most important factors when purchasing a car by age group 

Older drivers, ages 55-64 and 65+ placed more importance on safety features ranking it as their third biggest priority. While those in the 18-54 age groups put the cost of ownership and fuel prices down as their third choice, just above importances in safety features.  

Again, the older generations ages 55-64 and 65+ were also more brand conscious, ranking the make of car as its fourth highest priority, and brand reputation as sixth highest, both higher than all other age groups.  

Those aged 65+ were more forward-thinking placing a fair amount of consideration on warranty or service plan options compared to those in the younger age groups putting it as their seventh highest priority. Those in the age group 18-44 years put warranty at either 10th or 11th in priority.  

Those aged 18-24 and 65+ were the only groups to place low emission and environmentally friendly above the colour of the car. 

Most important factors when purchasing a car by location 

Australian Capital Territory was the only state that placed reliability as it’s number one consideration, narrowly coming ahead of the purchase price, which all other Australian states put first for importance when looking at buying a new car.  

Tasmania was the only state that ranked low emissions or environmentally friendly features in its top 10 of importance. This was followed by brand reputation which was ranked 10^th. While all other Australian states that placed it more important in seventh place when looking at buying a new car. 

Warranty or service plan options ranked lower than the average for Tasmania at 11^th and both Australian Capital Territory and Victoria placed it 10^th.  These states place factors like exterior style and design as more important. 

Most important factors when purchasing a car by the car brand owner

Only the owners of the car brand Subaru and BMW prioritised reliability over purchase price when considering factors for buying a new car. The purchase price ranked first in importance for all other brands. MG’s drivers ranked cost of ownership or fuel prices as the second greatest consideration, whereas for most other brands they ranked reliability. 

It might not be a surprise that those who ranked warranty or service plan options the highest were KIA and MG drivers, in sixth and fifth spots. This is compared to ninth for the overall average for all other car brands. Both of those companies offer extensive warranty options of seven and ten years.  

Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen drivers both ranked the make of the car as third most important – one spot ahead of the overall average. Mercedes-Benz drivers also ranked brand reputation higher than the rest, in fifth place, two spots higher than the overall average.  

The drivers of Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz all ranked exterior style and design much higher than most brands at sixth, with an overall ranking of 10^th. On the flipside, the cost of ownership or fuel prices was less of a concern for these drivers, all ranking in seventh spot, compared to fourth overall.  

– ENDS –   

About the Data: 

• Survey conducted by Pureprofile in February 2025 of 3,002 drivers surveyed – Adults (18+), Nationally representative for gender, state, age 
• Rankings on driver perceptions based on average ranking of 13 categories for importance to driver when purchasing a vehicle 
• Some data has been excluded once broken down by demographic due to small sample size, such as Northern Territory for states, non-binary for gender and some vehicle brands for car ownership. 

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